Capsule Comic Reviews 08/05/15

Best of the Week

Title: Airboy #3

Publisher: Image Comics

Writer: James Robinson

Artist: Greg Hinkle

Cover Artist: Greg Hinkle

Review: ★★★★★

Robinson and Hinkle find themselves transported into the Golden Age world of Airboy, whether it’s from the drug and alcohol use or them finally just losing their minds. They find a world much purer than ours, though they still add in their own depravity to the setting. There is plenty of humor, but it also gives Robinson the chance to self analyze whats wrong with his life, whether or not it is all actually true. The book continues to be a refreshingly funny take on writer’s block and where it can take you, assuming you have a bizarre enough imagination, as the two creators here certainly do.

Title: Deadly Class #15

Publisher: Image Comics

Writer: Rick Remender

Artist: Wes Craig

Colorist: Lee Loughridge

Letterer: Rus Wooten

Cover Artist: Wes Craig

Review: ★★★★★

Marcus’s plunge spiral down continues as his drug use picks up and he grows more paranoid of his former friends. His conviction is becoming so strong its easy to believe, but we still are left to wonder if Saya actually has anything to do with what is going on. Whether she does or not, her and Willie make sure to leave a message they won’t put up with Marcus for much longer. Watching Marcus in this depression is fascinating as Remender has done an excellent job to layer it in the last few issues. The killing may have been kept to a minimum, but the story was so powerful it wasn’t missed at all.

Title: We Stand Guard #2

Publisher: Image Comics

Writer: Brian K Vaughan

Artist: Steve Skroce

Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth

Letterer: Fonografiks

Cover Artist: Steve Skroce

Review: ★★★★★

The Canadian resistance have stolen a big piece of tech from the Unites States and they want it back. Sounds pretty crazy, right? We Stand On Guard’s unique premise continues full steam ahead as Amber integrates herself into the resistance. While she took a strong stance last issue, everyone is not quite ready to fully accept her as she quickly finds out. Just like Amber we get to learn a little more about these diverse characters, who are one of the many reasons this book has drawn us in so fast. Topping everything for us, though, is Skroce’s gorgeous art that we’re in love with, which brings these characters to life so well. His style feels like it was meant to draw this book. Suffice to say, by the end we found ourselves disappointed only in the fact we didn’t have more of it to read yet. It is a phenomenal series so far and we want more now.

The Weekly Rundown

Title: Angel & Faith Season 10 #17

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Writer: Victor Gischler

Artist: Cliff Richards

Colorist: Michelle Madsen

Letterer: Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt

Cover Artist: Scott Fischer; Mike Norton and Michelle Madsen

Review: ★★★☆☆

After finding a student dead from an apparent vampire attack, the police ask Faith to continue her undercover work until they can root out the vampires in question. It doesn’t take long for her and Fred to root them out, though the mastermind behind the teenage vampires is sure to cause further troubles. The story would have benefitted from putting a little more mystery behind which teenagers where the vampires, considering as readers we’ve known since the beginning though it takes our characters late into this issue to find out. It takes a little steam out of the story, but also undermines Faith staying undercover since that gets blown as well. The surprise vampire at the end could at least be just what this arc needs to pick itself back up next month.

If the previous arc of Bloodshot Reborn was the title character circling around the rabbit hole, Lemire gives him a big push all the way down. As Bloodshot wants just a little downtime to process the nanites slowly taking over again, Bloodsquirt takes him down a strange path where we meet the “Squirt” versions of Unity. We find out a little more about Bloodshot’s little imaginary sidekick, specifically what he actually is. It is a strange, psychedelic journey, one which Allen is perfectly suited for with his unique art style. It is one of the stranger issues of the series so far, but considering how he is slowly losing his mind, it fits in wonderfully.

Being a super hero and having a family can host all sorts of problems as the Fox has been learning. With his son turned hero captured by Mr. Smile, he goes on a rescue mission that pits him against his entire rogue gallery. That’s when being married to a fellow hero comes in handy, though. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the story has a great old school feel with Waid involved, but it also tackled some darker issues that keep it fresh and new. It really felt like the issue took a page from Batman and Joker’s recent dealings in regards to Fox and Mr. Smile, but since it was an interesting concept to begin with, we were all for it here. It wraps up another great start for the revitalized Dark Circle Comics line.

Imperium has seen plenty of ups and downs since its launch; this happens to be one of the lower points. During Harada’s infiltration of Leviathan, Divinty inexplicably shows up and takes Harada on a journey through time as he shows him what could be. Beyond the fact that having Divinity show up completely breaks the current arc right before it was about to end, going through different points in time makes the issue extremely hard to follow. The series of events become hard to place in sequence as it makes you think of the question of the chicken and the egg. A bit of a muddled mess, you wouldn’t be missing much from passing this month.

Title: Insufferable #4

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Writer: Mark Waid

Artist: Peter Krause

Colorist: Nolan Woodard

Cover Artist: Peter Krause

Review: ★★★☆☆

More villains from their past are thrown at Galahad and Nocturnus. While Nocturnus continues to step in to save the day, Galahad keeps looking like a fool in the process as the pressure of thinking his father may have killed his mother starts to get to him. Watching his fortunes turn is satisfying after reading several issues of how arrogant and self-absorbed he can be. The villains felt a bit underwhelming, as they have from the start, but in the end they’re just window dressing for us to view Galahad and Nocturnus’s relationship that seems fractured beyond repair.

Title: Jupiter’s Circle #5

Publisher: Image Comics

Writer: Mark Millar

Artist: David Gianfelice

Inker: Davide Gianfelice and Mortarino

Colorist: Ive Svorcina

Letterer: Peter Doherty

Cover Artist: Frank Quitely

Review: ★★★☆☆

The latest arc takes us through George’s life with powers as he refuses to grow up. He takes seldom things seriously and drinks too much. He finds love which changes him to a degree, but not enough which pushes her away as she cannot handle his antics anymore. While it is a great idea to show the human side of these heroes, George probably has one of the weakest stories at the moment. A man with power who refuses to take responsibility for himself is common enough to see and lacks the statement the other characters have made so far. Stacking it against the rest of the series so far, it just lands a peg below.

Title: Nailbiter #15

Publisher: Image Comics

Writer: Joshua Williamson

Artist: Mike Henderson

Colorist: Adam Guzowski

Letterer: John J. Hill

Cover Artist: Mike Henderson and Adam Guzowski

Review: ★★★★☆

The trio of Warren, Finch, and Crane are trapped in the underground temple with Alice who is bleeding out and a butcher on their heels. It gives the series several of its most thrilling moments as they try to hide and stay alive. Not everything gets answered, but we do find out a little bit more about what’s going on down there, as well as a pretty big revelation from Crane. By the end of the issue everything is thrown up in the air as things take a big course change for most of th characters. This entire arc pulled us around a little too much while dangling answers to questions we should have known wouldn’t get answered. Luckily this issue put things back on track in top horror form.

Title: Savage Dragon #205

Publisher: Image Comics

Writer: Erik Larsen

Artist: Erik Larsen

Colorist: Nikos Koutsis

Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos

Cover Artist: Erik Larsen

Review: ★★★☆☆

Malcom has 99 problems, but a leaked sex tape ain’t one. Lucky for him, after his apartment was ransacked as someone searched for it, he finds out he has nothing to worry about. However, having three women pregnant does cause problems as he tries to make sure the childbirth wouldn’t kill the mothers. If that weren’t enough, his prom has an uninvited guest he has to handle. Savage Dragon is such a different type of super hero story that it can be very refreshing, though it takes many of the normal teenage issues and exaggerates them more than Save By the Bell. The transitions are what keeps this issue bogged down a bit, as it jumps from character to character back and forth through days. It makes things feel overcrowded when it could be much smoother with just a little bit of reigning things in.

Title: Star Trek #48

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Writer: Mike Johnson

Artist: Tony Shasteen

Colorist: Davide Mastrolonardo

Letterer: Neil Uyetake

Covers: Tony Shasteen

Review: ★★★★☆

Hikaru Sulu gets the chance to work on his leadership abilities as Kirk puts him in charge of an away mission charged with watching an alien culture secretly, using new cloaking technology Scotty has invented. The mission takes a huge twist as they witness a more advanced alien ship having contact with them as an electric storm disrupts their technology. Sulu has always been one of my favorite characters from the original series, so seeing him take the spotlight for an arc is a nice treat. While a majority of the issue served as set up, cutting him off from the Enterprise should give him a great opportunity to flex his skills which we haven’t seen him do recently.

Title: The Wicked + The Divine #13

Publisher: Image Comics

Writer: Kieron Gillen

Artist: Kate Brown and Jamie McKelvie

Colorist: Matthew Wilson

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Covers: Kate Brown; Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson

Review: ★★★★☆

Another one bites the dust. After Baal tracked down and captured Morrigan last issues, things shift in gear as Tara takes the spotlight of the issue. We learn of who she was before coming a god and just how miserable she was with her life. As a god, things haven’t changed much as people still don’t like her for her, but for her powers. It’s an emotional story that communicates even those who look like they have it all are not necessarily happy. Her story alone is powerful, but the mystery of the gods deepens as Ananke continues down her path. In this series you never now what to expect next which can be so frustrating at times. Yet that is also what makes it so exhilarating and better than most comics out there right now.